Seal for bottles, &amp;c.



No. 782,173. PATENTED FEB. 7, 1905. H. P. PERKINS.

SEAL FOR BOTTLES, &0 APPLICATION FILED OUT. 17.1904.

Hill!!! I!!! I! UNITED STATES Patented February '7, 19C 5.

PATENT EEIcE.

SEAL FOR BOTTLES, &c.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 782,173, dated February '7, 1905.

Application filed October 17,1904. Serial No. 228,802.

To /1.// u'lmlw if 711,11. con/corn:

Be it known that .1, Hanna PINKNEY Pun- KINS, a citizen of the United States, residing at Poplarblutf, in the county of Butler and State of Missouri, have invented a new and useful Seal for Bottles, &c., of which the following is a specification.

The invention relates to improvements in bottleseals.

The object of the present invention is to improve the construction of bottle-seals and to provide a simple, inexpensive, and efficient seal designed for use on bottles and analogous receptacles and capable of effectually preventing such a receptacle from being surreptitiously refilled and resold as an original pack age or its contents fraudulently adulterated.

A further object of the invention is to provide a seal of this character adapted also to be employed for positively retaining an ordinary cork or stopper in the neck of a receptacle and capable of enabling the same to be readily removed and the bottle to be used again.

\Yith these and other objects in view the invention consists in the construction and novel combination and arrangement of parts hereinafter fully described, illustrated in the accompanying drawings, and pointed out in the claims hereto appended, it being understood that various changes in the form, proportion, size, and minor details of construction within the scope of the claims may be resorted to without departing from the spirit or sacrificing any of the advantages of the invention.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a vertical sectional view of a portion of a bottle provided with a seal constructed in accordance with this invention. Figs. 2 and 3 are horizontal sectional views taken on the line X X of Fig. 1 and showing the seal in its locked and unlocked positions. is a detail perspective view of the upper end of the neck of the bottle. Fig. 5 is a detail perspective View of the seal, the same being inverted. Fig. 6 a detail sectional view on the line 6 6 ofFigQ.

Like numerals of reference designate corresponding parts in all the figures of the drawings.

1 designates a bottle provided at the upper end of its neck with a pair of oppositely-disposed inwardly-extending integral flanges 2 and 3, disposed horizontally and adapted to be engaged by a seal i, which covers the mouth of the bottle, as clearly shown in Fig.

1. The seal, which may be constructed of any suitable material such as glass, porcelain, metal, hard rubber, or the like is provided with a depending body portion 5, which extends into the neck of the bottle, and it has an outwardly-extending peripheral flange (5, which fits on the upper edges of the neck. The inwardly-extending body portion is provided with opposite curved edges 7 to fit against the inner face of the neck at opposite sides thereof, and it is cut away between the curved edges to form a shoulder 8 and to provide a recess or space 9 .for a spring 10. The shoulder 8 forms a stop and is adapted to limit the rotary movement of the seal in one direction, as hereinafter explained, and the spring is adapted to snap back of one of the flanges of the neck to lock the seal against backward movement after it has been partially rotated to carry a pair of lugs 11 beneath the flanges. The lugs, which project downward and outward from the body of the seal at the recessed portions, have engaging upper faces, which are adapted to lie beneath the flanges of the bottle to prevent the seal from being withdrawn.

The seal is placed on the bottle with the parts in the position shown in Fig. 2, and it is rotated to carry the shoulder 8 against one of the flanges and to snap the spring back of the other flange. The recess 9 also forms a shoulder 12 forengaging one of the flanges ot' the neck at a point opposite the engaging end of the spring. lVhen the seal is locked, as indicated in Figs. 1 and 3, the mouth of the bottle is securely closed, and access to the cork or stopper 13 can be had only by breaking the lugs 11 of the seal. The lugs 11 may be easily broken by forcing a thin blade between the seal and the neck of the bottle at the lugs 11. The bottle is provided with a lower cork-receiving portion 14:, which is of less diameter than the upper seal-receiving portion to en able the cork or stopper 13 to pass the flanges 2 and 3. The engaging faces of the lugs may be slightly beveled, as shown in Fig. 1, to facilitate their engagement with the flanges and to form wedges for drawing the seal tightly against the upper edges of the bottle.

The device will effectually prevent a bottle or analogous receptacle from being fraudulently refilled and resold as an original package and will also prevent any adulteration of the contents of a receptacle. The seal may, however, be advantageously employed for retaining the stopper or cork in the neck of a receptacle, and suflicient space may be provided between the upper edge of the neck of the bottle and the projecting flange 6 of the seal to admit of the insertion of a thin blade for pressing back the spring to enable the seal to be released Without breaking the bottle. When the bottles and seals are to be used again, they may be provided with the signature, trade-mark, or other device of the manufacturer for preventing them from being used by other manufacturers in the regular course of trade.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. In a device of the class described,the combination of a receptacle provided at its mouth with inwardly-extending flanges, a seal provided with lugs for engaging the flanges, and means carried by the seal for locking the lugs in engagement with the flanges.

2. In a device of the class described,the combination of a receptacle provided at its neck with inwardly-extending flanges, a seal provided with projecting lugs arranged to engage the lower faces of the flanges and adapt-v ed to be carried beneath the same by rotating the seal, said seal being provided with a stop for limiting such rotary movement in one direction, and a yieldable device for locking the seal against backward movement, whereby the lugs are retained in engagement with the flanges.

3. In a device of the class described,the combination of a receptacle provided at its neck with inwardly-extending flanges, a seal fitted on the neck and provided with lugs arranged to engage beneath the flanges and having shoulders for engaging the flanges at the side edges thereof, and a spring carried by the seal and arranged to engage one of the flanges.

4.. In a device of the class described,the combination of a receptacle provided at its neck with projecting flanges, a seal having a projecting peripheral flange to fit on the neck and provided with an inwardly-extending body portion having opposite curved edges, said body portion being also recessed between the curved edges to form shoulders and provided with projecting lugs to engage the flanges of the neck, and a spring located at one of the recessed portions of the seal for engaging one of the flanges of the neck.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own I have hereto aifixed my signature in the presence of two witnesses. HARDA PINKNEY W itnesses:

WILL C. Yos'r, J. F. POORE.

PERKINS. 

